


Returning Home

by Phoenixflames12



Series: An Endless Night: Extended Scenes [11]
Category: Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Alternate Universe - World War II, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 16:37:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14453373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenixflames12/pseuds/Phoenixflames12
Summary: 21st April, 1945Six years after he left Scotland, Captain Jamie Fraser returns to Inverness





	Returning Home

**Author's Note:**

> This can be read in conjunction with chapter 9 of An Endless Night- the WW2 AU that started these extended scenes off. The first 100 words or so were written for 'Tell A Story Day' that the @lallybrochlibrary hosted over on Tumblr and then extended for AO3 purposes.

** Returning Home **

 

21stApril 1945

His hands are trembling as the train begins to slow down, rattling into a familiar station that he has not seen for six years.

 

Shadowed shapes brush past him; a low rumble of voices slowly increasing in excitement filling the compartment. Out of the blurred evening light, a flash of dark hair dances past. A small boy clutches at the skirt of a camel coat; huge, amber coloured eyes dancing out of a pale face; shy and expectant all at once.

 

_A Dhia, was that…? Could that be…?_

And then, flickering, fading, blurring through the crush of the crowd, he sees her.

 

She’s older now, the lines of her face more pronounced, the whisky coloured eyes that have sustained his sleep for so long, wide and creased with crow’s feet.

 

_Oh, my Sorcha…_

_Mo nighean don._

_Claire._

 

The crumpled paper, his last from that kind nurse who had taken pity on him at the hospital at Le Havre, crumples in his palm, aching fingers reaching instinctively to touch the ghost of the rosary lying at his throat and he stands, ready to greet his wife and children.

 

‘Train terminating here! All passengers to depart!’

 

An involuntary shudder ripples through him at the guard’s voice and it is a moment before he can steady himself; a deep, aching breath catching through his lungs, his eyes squeezing themselves shut against the memories.

 

_This isna Salzburg, man._

_You’re home._

_You’re back._

_Breathe easy now._

_Breathe._

Slowly, carefully, he shifts the weight of his pack against his shoulders and steps down onto the platform.

 

The sun is beginning to dip behind the station as he stands there, motionless, letting the throng of civilian bodies surge past him. Tiny flecks of purple heather blaze against the hulking shadow of the hill, guiding him home.

 

All he can see is her. Her eyes, her smile that is forced and holding, a façade of strength pulled up against the prospect of heartbreak.

 

_Mo Sorcha._

_Mo ghraidh, it’s me._

_I’m home._

 

Can see Faith’s eyes widen in shock, the mane of tawny copper that he remembers so well, cut short so it slices against her cheekbones. She looks older, she is older, he reminds himself, she’d been a child of eleven when he’d left.

 

And then Brianna; sweet Brianna, with her hair still in stubby plaits; the fierce and bonny face that he loves so dearly radiant in the evening light.

 

And lastly the little boy whom he had left as a bairn, barely walking.

 

The little boy whom he has not seen grow up, or change.

 

William, suddenly frightened by this tall, thin stranger moving like a sleepwalker towards them, turns away, burying his head in Claire’s coat.

 

_Willie, mo bhalaiach, it’s me. It’s your Da. I’m home._

‘Jamie…’

 

His name is a moan on her lips, the façade crumbling as he reaches to cup her head hard, drawing her to him, the weight of her hair cascading through his fingers.

 

‘For so long, _Sorcha… So long…’_ The words are ragged, desperate, each breath a bloody, heaving effort, his heart splintering with the pain of it, his shoulders heaving as she holds him fiercely, never wanting to let go.

 

‘I know’, he hears her whisper at last, the words full of love and longing.

 

‘I know.’

 

* * *

_**Fin** _

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to read and review!
> 
> Comments, suggestions, constructive criticisms etc are like chocolate to my brain!
> 
> Much love and enjoy x


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